Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

Tenaya Creek taking off ~d nelson

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.

Teddy Roosevelt & John Muir @ Glacier Point ~whitehouse.gov

Sentinel Rock & Yosemite Valley Chapel ~d nelson (click to enlarge)

Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality.

Bridalveil Falls & Merced River welcomes us to the valley ~d nelson

Leidig meadow trail ~d nelson (click to enlarge)

As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.

lined up at Vernal Falls ~d nelson (click to enlarge)

protection for food, tent, bears & us (click to enlarge)

Yosemite Falls from Sentinel bridge crossing Merced River ~d nelson

Yosemite Park is a place of rest, a refuge from the roar and dust and weary, nervous, wasting work of the lowlands, in which one gains the advantages of both solitude and society. Nowhere will you find more company of a soothing peace-be-still kind. Your animal fellow beings, so seldom regarded in civilization, and every rock-brow and mountain, stream, and lake, and every plant soon come to be regarded as brothers; even one learns to like the storms and clouds and tireless winds. This one noble park is big enough and rich enough for a whole life of study and aesthetic enjoyment. It is good for everybody, no matter how benumbed with care, encrusted with a mail of business habits like a tree with bark. None can escape its charms. Its natural beauty cleans and warms like a fire, and you will be willing to stay forever in one place like a tree. ~John Muir

John Muir helped draw up Yosemite’s proposed boundaries in 1889, wrote the magazine articles that led to its creation in 1890 and co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892 to protect it. May his legacy help inspire actions which protect mother earth, so that she may continue sustaining all living beings. ~david

165 Replies to “John Muir’s Divine Yosemite Conviction”

thank you for this kind affirmation, Jennie!
we’ve countless others to be thankful for
just as future generations will feel gratitude
for those who act with wisdom
such as yourself, today.
may your day be well, david 🙂

Your photographs are sensational! I get the feeling of this painterly expanse – the open air – the waterfalls – the shadows overlay with intriguing patterns. Thanks for this gallery display and words of John Muir! Connectedness, indeed.

David, Your tribute to John Muir is beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his words accompanied by your glorious images. I am thankful for his reverence for nature and contributions to conservation and pay homage to him especially when we are hiking Yosemite. Terrific post, thanks. 🙂

thank you for your kind message, Jane! i was fortunate to have good picture conditions. it seemed appropriate to offer gratitude to John Muir. perhaps we were there about the same time. there were quite a few there hiking, biking and i didn’t recognize most people. wishing you a happy moment 🙂

so kindly your words are a recognition of what was
intended to be expressed, Betty!
quite a special place, even among many others
and some with cameras and wonder
in their eyes. i’m sure we will do our best
to protect in the time we have 🙂